


Returning Home

by QueenMae_theGay



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Klance Week, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 16:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17206457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenMae_theGay/pseuds/QueenMae_theGay
Summary: Set prior to season 8, post the events of season 7. Mostly Klance fluff and general nice team bonding. Medium Langst, minimal Klangst, with a happy ending.





	1. Chapter 1: Leaving

Chapter 1: Leaving

Earth was safe. He knew that, logically. He knew that this was just one mission and that he’d come back. 

He knew that even if he didn’t, Earth was well protected now. 

It had been years since they had retaken the planet from the Galra. Years in which they had rebuilt the Castle, years in which the Lions recharged and the team caught up on sleep. Years he got to spend with his family, both old and new. 

Stepping back onboard the Castle had felt like coming home, in a way. Armed with photos and blankets and his favorite skin care products, his room now felt like his. He watched from his chair on the bridge as the Holts said their goodbyes to their parents, as Shiro gave Keith some last minute instructions. 

That was another change. Shiro was staying on Earth. Shiro was staying as the leader of the Voltron-Terran Resistance Coalition. 

A long long time ago, he might have minded being left with only Keith as a leader. But that had changed. Keith had grown up. They both had. They hadn’t really had a choice. 

But Keith had grown up and grown into his role, and to tell the truth, he still had a few issues blindly trusting Shiro. Not that he didn’t, of course. 

Just… after the whole “soul transplant into dead clone” situation, Lance had felt weird around Shiro. After everything that had happened before that, his trust was maybe just a little bit less. Shiro was human, in Lance’s mind now. Not some unreachable ideal of a superhuman role model. So yeah, his hero-worship of the man had worn off. But he didn’t mind that so much anymore. 

As Lance zoned out, his goodbyes already long said and done, the last transmission to the bridge cut out, and the Castle readied itself for launch. For its first real launch, apart from a quick test drive to Mars and back. 

Lance jumped as a hand landed on his shoulder. 

“It’s weird to leave again, isn’t it?”

Keith had become much more comfortable with human contact recently. Not that that stopped Lance from being surprised every time the other boy hugged him or touched his shoulder or leaned against him as they left the training deck. 

Not that Lance paid attention to such touches. Not at all the case. 

He looked up, surprised to realize he was crying. 

Shit. 

The immediate reaction is anger, anger that he’s leaving, anger that Shiro doesn’t have to leave, and anger that Keith, of all people, caught him crying. Lance stands up so suddenly that Keith backs up a step, and leaves the bridge in even, carefully long strides. 

Only when the door hisses shut behind him does Keith realize his hand is still stretched out to Lance. 

Only when the door hisses shut behind him does Lance realize the look Keith gave him wasn’t disgust or annoyance, but concern. 

Lance walks away, tears still running down his face, his hands shaking. 

Keith turns away, lowering his hand, unable to get Lance’s heartbroken expression out of his head. Hunk turns to him from where he had flung himself on the ground, talking to Shay. (She had occupied Hunk’s seat, at his insistence.)

“Well, that went about as well as can be expected.”

***  
Lance had been training for three hours. Originally, he had gone to train to get himself together. Then he had kept training because he didn’t want to talk to anyone. Then he had hoped someone would come to find him. 

Now, he was training because it had become habit, and he wasn’t ready to stop. He had spent the first hour with his bayard as the long Altean sword. Then, when his hands were shaking from holding the grip and his brain felt fried from keeping it in sword form, he let his bayard melt into his usual, long range rifle. He started a simulation, providing cover from above as droids chased simulated civilians on the ground. 

One of the simulated people was a little, albeit alien, kid, hiding behind a rock. 

After that, Lance didn’t miss a single shot. 

He blew through twenty or so levels before he let out a long breath, shot down the last robot, and ended the simulation. Then he set up targets and practiced switching between one form and another, chopping a droid in half before shooting down three more. He practiced with a sword, a rifle, and a more manageable handgun. 

10 droids went down. 

20\. 

50.

6 levels of simulations, completed. 

7.

8.

9\. 

10.

Lance let the sword spin out of his hand, impaling itself through the body of the last droid, and crashing to the ground. Without thinking, he reached out for the handle that was twenty feet away, summoning the bayard effortlessly into his hand. 

Exhausted, emotionally and physically, he slumped to the ground, leaning against the wall. 

In unison, two voices said, “End simulation.”

Lance looked up halfway through his sentence, scanning the room for the source. Nothing. 

The control room hovered above him, and he glared at it, much like he had done the day Keith had tried to lead him through an invisible maze. It was dark, but that didn’t mean anything. Slowly, he got up, raised his middle finger in the air, and walked off the training deck without a second glance. 

***

Keith felt bad about scaring Lance, and about shutting down his simulation, but the boy looked about five minutes from passing out, and the next line of droids had already started to form. Really, it wasn’t his fault. 

Should he have told Lance he was watching? Maybe. But watching him fight was incredible. He’d just gotten… distracted. And honestly, who wouldn’t? He had known Lance was a good shot - he’d saved Keith’s ass more than once. 

But a sword? 

Summoning his bayard to his hand??

Switching between three different weapons???

Keith let out a long sigh. His right-hand had gotten a lot better since about the time Keith had rejoined the team. After his time-warped three years with the Blade. And honestly, he had meant to compliment Lance, or offer to train with him or something, but then Lotor had happened and then the whole clone-of-Shiro thing went down, and then they were trying to save the universe again and really it had just been a hell of a ride. And Lance had flipped him off, not the other way around. 

So yeah. Keith felt bad that he hadn’t ever actually told Lance how impressive he was becoming. 

Being the leader was always harder than he thought it would be.


	2. Chapter 2: Langst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter in which Lance has feelings and can't deal with them.

Chapter 2: Langst 

Lance wasn’t crying anymore. No, he was mad. Mad at Keith, for spying on him. How long had he been up there, in the dark, just watching him?? 

He sighed, stepping into clean clothes. He was an emotional disaster today. And everyone was, obviously, but he still felt isolated. Pidge had rebuilt Rover while on Earth, and it was like she had her best friend back. Of course, he had still hung out with the tiny gremlin, but she was always working on something, especially now that Matt was back to stay. 

And Matt had Shiro now, and he had grown up and become more responsible, taking over as Shiro’s right hand in the Coalition. 

And Shiro was somehow completely at ease as the commander of a rebellion, and as much as they all loved their Space Dad, Lance’s relationship with him had never really bounced back. 

And Allura spent most of her time with Romelle (and that was a damn good thing because the two Alteans were hands down the cutest couple), but between her girlfriend and Coran, Allura’s non-mission time was taken. 

And of course he loved Hunk, but both of them were busy with their families. And when it had come time to leave Earth again, Shay had come with them, so Hunk wasn’t pining for home in quite the same way. 

So yeah. While everyone missed Earth, most of them had brought something or someone with them that made it better. Robots and girlfriends were now preferred company. And he loved his team, he really really did. But their time on Earth had started to erode at the “Team Voltron has to Save every FREAKING reality” vibe. And that, in turn, took a toll on the closeness of the team. 

Long story shortened, Lance felt completely alone, which was starting to become a pretty normal feeling. Even with his family, there was all this shit that had happened and they were so glad he was back but he had DIED and that wasn’t something he could forget, but it wasn’t something he could bring up to his mom. “So mom you know how excited you are that I’m back? Yeah the thing is that I’m still really fucked up from being shoved into a war, and also I died, so I’m kinda traumatized but anyway let’s have churros.”

He could talk to his family but they didn’t understand what had happened to him. Hell, even his team didn’t acknowledge what happened to him. He was the dumb one. The goofball. 

And now he really was crying again, because what made him deserving of being here, being the 7th or 9th wheel, surrounded by these brilliant talented people when he was just the dumb one. 

***  
Keith was worried. Lance was the heart of Voltron, but lately, he seemed to be drifting off, both in his own head and away from the rest of the team. Like Lance was becoming Keith the more Keith grew up and learned better. 

Keith smiled because he knew what Shiro would do. 

It was time for some team building.


	3. Training

“Attention Paladins of Voltron. Please report to the training deck in full armor in ten minutes.”

Keith’s voice crackled through the speakers of the Castle, and he smiled as the assorted groans of the Paladins drifted up from their various beds. But Lance’s expected complaint didn’t arise, and as he made his way down to the training deck, he realized why. 

Lance was already there, in full armor, holding a sword. He made his way methodically through the simulation, and Keith realized that he was just warming up. Instead of climbing up into the control booth, though, the Black Paladin strolled through the door, his helmet in his hand. 

“Morning.”

A sigh of frustration came from the figure in blue. “Pause.”

Keith tilted his head slowly to one side, reading Lance’s foul mood from the door. “What’s wrong?”  
Lance groaned again. “Nothing’s wrong I just… I’m tired. Of all of this. Training and war and being the outsider and everything. I’m tired of this.” He gestured expansively at the room, and Keith refrained from asking if he meant the training deck or space itself. He knew what Lance meant. 

So instead of making a sarcastic comment, he smiled, and walked over to Lance. 

“Can I ask for a favor?”

Lance was shocked at how gentle Keith’s voice was. Like he was concerned but wouldn’t press Lance. Like he knew exactly how he felt. 

Lance’s finger guns and cocky smirk were up and in action before he even knew it. “Ask away, darling.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but smiled to see some humor in the other’s faked grin. “Yesterday, I was watching you train.”

“Not at all creepy.”

“Not at all. Anyway, you threw your bayard and then summoned it back. I want you to teach me how to do that. I want you to teach the team how to do that.”

Lance rubbed the back of his neck. Red under blue armor, he smiled sheepishly. “I don’t know if I can?? I mean I’ve been practicing more but it just happens. You should teach them. I’ve seen you do it.” 

“Once. It happened once. I’ve seen you summon you bayard and have it switch form in midair. I saw you do it a half dozen times in training alone. Please, Lance?”

He sounded sincere. Lance looked up, took a step back from Keith, and shook his head, like he was trying to clear water from his ears. “Yeah, ok.”

“Really??!? I mean… thanks, man. I appreciate it.”

And then Lance did something Keith mentally hit himself for being surprised at. 

He threw his arm around Keith’s shoulders, grinning. And his smile was genuine, and it caught Keith off guard. And Keith smiled back. 

And then their team arrived. 

***  
To say that all hell broke loose may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the lesson didn’t go well. 

After Keith greeted the team, he told them he wanted Lance to teach them a new skill, and asked the Red-ish Paladin to demonstrate. 

Lance started by having a line of droids stand against two opposing walls, lined up the paladins on a third, and stood in the middle of the room. Without even blinking, he summoned a sword, and threw it like a dagger; he didn’t even watch it hit home in the droid’s chest as he turned away, his hand outstretched.

The bayard reappeared over his shoulder as his rifle, and he shot one droid cleanly in the head before he let his bayard fold itself back into its resting shape. 

Unsurprisingly, Hunk was the first to react. His tone glowing, he began to gush.

“Buddy that was amazing!! I didn’t even realize you had a sword!! Like whattttttt!! And then it changed as you summoned it!! You could have decapitated yourself, oh my gosh but you didn’t!!” 

Surprisingly, Keith was the one to cut him off. 

“Well done.”

And it was like floodgates opening, because then Pidge chimed in, praising the mathematical perfection of his throw (Lance thought that’s what she said, it’s hard to tell with Pidge sometimes), and Allura complimenting his precise summoning of the second form. And Hunk kept gushing, and Keith just watched them and smiled. 

Eventually, Lance turned to his leader and smiled back. “What next, Mullet?”

And Keith actually almost laughed aloud at that. But instead, he gestured to the center of the huge room, motioning the paladins into a line. He, himself took up the second spot, leaving the central position open. 

“Next, we all listen closely to Lance.”

***  
Pidge managed to summon both her usual bayard and a short knife, similar to Keith’s. He promised to show her how to use it later. 

Allura could summon a sword or a staff, along with her usual bayard. Unsurprisingly, she was the first one to accomplish the task, and set to work practicing shifting her weapon. 

Hunk could change his gun, but couldn’t summon a secondary weapon. So Lance started running drills with him, shooting his gun out of his hands or tackling it away from him. Regardless, the yellow bayard ended up several feet away on the ground, and although Hunk stared at it for a long time, he couldn’t get it to come back to him. 

Lance promised to help him as much as he needed, but Hunk seemed more likely to shoot someone than to summon his weapon. 

Keith, surprisingly, was having trouble too. He had managed to split his sword into two smaller knifes fairly quickly. The trick, he learned, was convincing oneself that you needed the other weapon. But he got stuck there, struggling to shift between the two weapons. 

As he started at the stubborn bayard, buried to its hilt in a robot three yards away, Lance strolled up behind him. 

Usually, Lance lets you know he’s there. He jokes and talks and laughs so loud you can echolocate the boy from half a ship away. But today, he was taking his role as right-hand of Voltron seriously, focusing in on what needed to be corrected and how to help. 

So when he placed his hands on Keith’s shoulders, the leader visibly jumped, his sword in his hand and swinging before he could process what happened. Lance smiled, his own sword rising to parry almost lazily. 

Coran, watching from above, could have sworn that Lance wasn’t even carrying his bayard when he walked up to Keith. 

And as soon as his brain caught up to his instincts, Keith dropped the sword like it had burned him. 

“I’m so sorry! Lance are you ok?? Lance???” Each word rose in intensity, as the concern flickered to shock. Keith came to three realizations at once. 

One - Lance had his sword up almost lazily, like he had both been waiting for the strike and like he had been born with a sword in his hand. 

Two - Keith’s bayard was now in his hand as opposed to 10 feet away in a robot. 

Three - Lance had a massive, shit-eating grin on his face, and before Keith could stop to interpret what that meant, Lance had scooped him into a hug. 

“You did it, man!!! You summoned that damn sword!! Mind you, you did also try to kill me, but you did it!! Listen up, everyone! I think I figured out how to make this work a bit better. Everyone can connect to their bayards already, but you need to trigger a deeper connection to get this to work!

For me, it’s anger. I’m pretty sure Keith’s is fear, or surprise. Allura, you seem to be calm, almost meditative?? Whatever it is, it’s amazing, seriously. You’re both kicking ass. 

Find the emotion that helps you shift your bayard. Pidge, try focusing analytically. Hunk, maybe worry, or protectiveness?? Are those emotions?? And don't worry too much about this it took me like a month to even figure out how to control the shift to the sword. Seriously, Hunk-a-dunk and my darling Pidge-pie, you’re doing great. 

Alright, everyone got that? Cool. Let’s try it again for ten more throws or reps or whatever and then take a break.”

Lance trailed off when he realized everyone was staring at him. 

“Uhh… guys?”

“Lance is right. We need to emotionally connect with our bayards.” Allura’s voice held a hint more pride than usual, as though Lance’s compliment had been taken seriously. 

Hunk groaned. “So I need to make myself terrified?? Or protective?? Lance this is seriously hard, man.”

Lance laughed. “You’ll get it, buddy. Don’t worry.”

And so he led them through ten more throws, and then another ten, guiding Pidge’s arm and shooting away Hunk’s cannon. He led them through it until they could all summon back their bayards, and when he dismissed Allura and Pidge with a genuinely bubbly “You both did amazing today!”, he offered a real smile as he returned Pidge’s ‘ironic’ finger guns. 

Lance stayed with Hunk for another hour and a half after the other two left, guiding him and helping him, until he could form a small yellow shield with a single, wicked spike set into the center. An offensive weapon of defense, and the perfect short-range, hand-to-hand weapon for Hunk. And after that, another hour of throwing the shield and changing between it and the gun. 

It was only when Hunk turned to him and said, “I’m exhausted man,” that Lance called it for the day, and Hunk left smiling from praise and a promise of trying again tomorrow. 

It was only then that Keith rose from where he had been sitting in a corner, knowing Lance had long forgotten his nervousness about teaching the team, knowing Lance forgot he had stayed after he had told Keith how well he did and to go rest for god’s sake. 

Lance had already started running drills of his own, practicing shooting short and long range targets with his bayard flickering between guns.

“End simulation!”

Keith’s voice was an unflinching command, and he surprised himself with how assertive his shout was. 

Clearly, he surprised Lance, too, because the only-slightly-taller boy jumped and raised his weapon slightly.

“Oh hi Keith. I forgot you were there.” The gun lowered and then disappeared, Lance’s mis-matched bayard stowed. He visabley relaxed as Keith stepped closer. “So uhhh… I guess I didn’t eff that up too badly?” 

The smiles and self confidence were still there, but Lance was suddenly nervous and stuttering again. He probably hadn’t even realized how well he had been leading the team. 

Keith smiled at him, only a hint of teasing in his tone. “You didn’t eff up at all.” His voice turned more serious as he added, “You taught them all something that could save any of our lives at some point in the future. You taught me something that could save any of their lives in the future, and I need to thank you for that.” 

Lance turned red. “It was nothing.” 

“It was most definitely something.”

“Hold up.” Lance was suddenly serious, his tone losing everything soft and shy and flustered in a split second; Keith was suddenly confused. “Their lives?? What about your life?”

“Umm…”

“Keith what about your life?”

“Listen if it comes to that I’ll save you or Pidge or Hunk or Allura or… any of you over myself.”

“Listen.” 

His voice dripped with urgency and command and pure concern, and Keith found himself torn between wanting to argue that he would keep Lance safe and listening to what he had to say. 

He met Lance’s eyes, and decided to listen. 

“No more hero complex, ok? I know you want to protect them. I get it. Honestly. But Keith, you can’t fuck around anymore with that stupid self-sacrificing bull. You can’t. You’re their leader.”

“Their?”

 

“Promise me.”

“Lance what do you mean their??”

“Keith we need you, so make the damn promise!”

“Lance!”

“Their. As in, the team will survive without me, but they will need you for whatever comes next. As in, the leader of the super-robot destined to save the fucking universe. As in, I need you to survive, so promise me you’ll stop thinking you’re expendable!” Both of their voices had risen to shouts, and the silence that followed Lance’s final explosion was deafening. 

“Lance…” Keith’s whisper was jarring in the silence, but his expression was so fucking raw that Lance couldn’t stop himself. 

He threw himself across the narrow space between them, wrapping his arms around Keith. His head came to rest on Keith’s shoulder, and his tears slipped onto the other’s dark armor. 

“Lance, it’s ok. I promise.” 

“Your mullet is stupid.”

“Yeah and you smell.”

“So do you, ninja boy.”

“I know, but at least my hair is cool.”

Lance shoved him away, but the wan, watery smile on his face made Keith spontaneously promise himself that he never wanted Lance to cry again. 

“Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me? I insulted your hair.”

“Yeah but…” The self conscious flush was back in Lance’s cheeks and ears, and his had had returned to the back of his neck. “Thanks for not hating me. I know I made it easy for you to and…”

In response, Keith grabbed Lance by the shoulders, lowering his head against the other’s shoulder, mimicking Lance’s pose from moments ago. “I never did hate you. I never will hate you. And nothing you could possibly do could make me hate you.” His words were slightly muffled against Lance’s shoulder, but he got the gist. 

“Thanks, Mullet.”

They stood like that for several moments, and when they walked out of the training room, Lance’s arm was around Keith’s shoulders, and Keith’s arm was around Lance’s waist. 

They didn’t realize until later that they were carrying each other’s helmets. 

And Lance didn’t realize until that night, laying in his bed, that he felt lighter walking arm in arm with Keith than he had in weeks. 

He really didn’t want to think about the implications of that.


	4. Keith is Confusion, tbh

While Lance was smiling his way through the rest of the day, Keith was having a crisis. 

A major crisis. 

Was he dying???

His heart rate was definitely higher than it should be, and he was having trouble breathing every time he heard Lance laugh. Also, he felt nauseous, but not in a terrible way. Like he was nervous?

Seriously, what was happening? 

The first chance he got, he called Shiro. 

Of course, it was about 2 am on Earth, and of course, Shiro answered within seconds. His hair was messy from sleep, and pillows were everywhere on screen, but it was Shiro and if anyone could help it would be his brother. 

Right?

“Keith! What’s wrong??? Has there been an attack?”

“What? Oh. No. Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“Yeah. So what’s wrong? You’ve only been gone like a day and a half.”

Keith winced. “Sorry”

“It’s fine. Now tell me, what’s going on, buddy?”

“Shiro I think I’m dying.”

He explained what was wrong and how it only happened around Lance with such a straight face that Shiro laughed aloud. 

“You’re not dying, buddy. Although it might feel like it. I think you might be falling for Lance.”

“No, I’m standing up just fine?”

“Oh Keith.”

“Shiro I don’t like the voice you’re using.”

And although Shiro wanted to immediately call Allura to tell her that Keith finally realized he’s absolutely in love with Lance, he made it through a full conversation with a red-faced, embarrassed, squeaky Keith. And then he said good night with a convincing yawn, and left Keith to figure out his own emotions. 

Immediately after hanging up though, he called Allura. And they talked into the late morning, and there was plenty of squealing from both her and Romelle. And sometimes Shiro regrets introducing his favorite lesbian aliens to the concept of shipping. But that was not one of those times. 

Because Klance is Takashi Shirogane’s OTP. And nothing will change that. (Not even his own relationship with Matt.) 

***  
Lance was confused. Of course, he was sitting with Hunk, Matt and Pidge, so that wasn’t all that surprising. But even then, he was distracted. The three nerds were making adjustments to the Castle, which Lance supposed was fairly necessary since they were now in deep space. 

They could just wormhole, but Allura wanted to test out the new ship first, and honestly, no one really minded the slower pace. Except Lance, because it meant time with no purpose. The three he was with right now were busy doing maintenance with Coran. Allura and Romelle had excused themselves right after dinner, so Lance figured they were having couple time. And he probably could help Shay with whatever she was doing in the kitchen - she certainly wouldn’t kick him out like Hunk sometimes did - but he didn’t really know Shay that well. 

So Lance was helping with tech stuff. And while it wasn’t his strong suit, he could figure enough out to be helpful. Plus, he had the longest arms of the four, so he could reach things for Pidge. Eventually, though, the other three had been typing and fiddling and nerding for long enough that they didn’t even notice when he snuck away. 

Except he didn’t sneak.

He just walked out the door. 

But they still didn’t notice, so he counted it as sneaking. 

***

As Lance “snuck” away, Hunk rolled his eyes and looked at Pidge, who was laughing at Lance. To be fair, Lance was walking like he was in an old, black and white spy movie. So maybe the giggles were justified. Only Matt seemed to be completely oblivious, and he was clearly texting Shiro. So….. good job, ninja Lance. 

***  
The doors to the Green Lion’s bay hissed shut, and Lance strolled through the halls aimlessly. He considered going to train, but he’d trained for almost two hours before Keith’s wake-up call. 

What Keith had assumed was Lance warming up on an easier level was really Lance’s return to an easier level as a cool-down exercise. So Lance had trained already for hours before group training and then teaching. And then staying for a few hours to help Hunk. 

Lance had probably spent 70% of his day on the training deck, so he wasn’t in the mood to go back yet. Maybe before bed he’d go do some light sparring. 

As he wandered, lost in his thoughts, Keith became frustrated in his room, and decided to go find his team. His thought was to see if they needed help with anything but he also was sorta hoping to run into Lance. As the two boys paced through the halls, one heading away from the Green Lion and one heading towards it, they lost themselves in their thoughts. 

Lance rounded a blind corner and ran straight into another human. 

Which happened to be Keith. 

Shit. 

Keith reached out his arm to steady Lance, acting on pure instinct. 

Lance recovered quickly, though, and looped his arm around Keith’s. 

“Oh most exalted leader, I find myself in a state of boredom.”

Keith started, blinked, and slowly smiled. Damn, he was soft for this boy. But he’d also learned to read Lance’s strange humor, and went along with it. “Oh most trusted advisor, I think I can help with that.”

“And what do you suggest, trusted commander?”

“I suggest a family game night, my truest friend.”

And then Lance laughed out loud, and Keith couldn’t help but laugh too, until they were hunched over and leaning against the wall for support, arms still linked. And somehow, when Lance pulled himself together enough to ask, “Monopoly?”, and as they walked away, their arms stayed wrapped around each other as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Hey Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“You can totally call me ‘exalted leader’ again.”

“Fuck off, Mullet.”

But the thing is, Keith had a hard time taking that seriously. After all, Lance’s arm was still wrapped around his waist. 

And Keith wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that. 

Logically, after all, it was Lance, and Lance was like this with everyone. But Lance had been withdrawn lately, and still had talked to Keith and laughed with Keith and smiled that gorgeous smile. 

And maybe, Keith thought, liking this boy wouldn’t be the end of him after all. 

Then Lance tilted back his head and laughed again, and Keith changed his mind. 

This would definitely be the death of him.


	5. Monopoly

“Attention, Alteans, gremlins, and decent humans (HUNK AND SHAY THAT’S YOUUUUU!!) Please proceed…. Ah fuck it; my Keith impression is shit. Keith!!!!!! Do it yourself.”

“Y’all. Lounge. Now. It’s game night, motherfuckers.”

“Keith!! Language!! HOLY SHIT RARE TEXAS KEITH!!”

~click~

***

“Ummmm.” Hunk’s eyebrows seemed like they were about to reach escape velocity. 

Pidge told him so, very matter-of-factly. 

“So do we dare join them for game night?”

“Matt, my bro, my friend, my excellent dude, you say that like we have a choice. And Hunk? What could possibly go wrong?”

“I’m... I’m gonna go make food. With Shay. Shay and I are gonna make food.”

“Popcorn?”

 

“I got you.”

“Ohhhh yess. Team Punk!!”

 

Matt, understandably, was confused. Pidge, understandably, didn’t give a shit. Pidge was going to get her damn popcorn, kick some ass, and watch as the world goes to hell. 

Because nothing good has ever come of game night. 

***  
It took twenty minutes for everyone to assemble themselves. Allura, for the first time in anyone’s memory, looked slightly rumpled, her hair loosened from its bun, her tiara askew. No one commented on the fact that Romelle also looked disheveled, and also slightly flushed. 

No one commented, but they all noticed. 

A table had been produced from somewhere or another. Half the group was in their pajamas, and Hunk was being worshipped as an actual god for making food. 

Hunk, naturally, was giving Shay all the credit. 

They’re cute like that. 

Pide sat on one end of a sectional, next to Hunk and then Shay. Coran took up another, along with the mice. And Matt, who looked rather regretfully at his sister, seated on the couch next to him. Then was Allura and Romelle. Which left one couch. On the table were huge bowls of popcorn. One with chocolate, one with butter, and one with cheese. And one, equally large bowl, with peanuts and caramel. But that was only for Pidge. 

She had already threatened everyone at that table dearly if they touched her popcorn. 

Notably missing, however, were Lance, Keith, and the game they were to play. 

But the door slid open within seconds, the two boys laughing as they walked in with a stack of Earthen board games. 

Allura exchanged a look with her girlfriend. The ex-rivals were laughing. Together. 

Once again, everyone made note of this little fact. But with these two, it would be mentioned later. Just… not in front of them.

“Hey hey hey!! We have arrived!” Lance winked at the group at large, dumped the games onto the table, and stole a handful of Pidge’s popcorn. When she growled at him, he just ruffled her asymmetrical hair. 

Lance plopped down on the open couch, his legs sprawled in front of him. He laughed again. “Aww man, I gotta share with Keith??” 

Keith just shook his head and flipped Lance off. 

And to everyone’s surprise, Lance blew a kiss back at him. 

They really had grown up. 

“So listen up, y’alllllll!”

Keith sighed as he settled on the couch. As far from Lance as he could get. 

“I think we should play monopoly.”

“Dude where did you even get all these games?” Hunk was sorting through the pile. “You have Clue, Life, Monopoly, Risk, and a ton more.”

Lance, with a short, fond laugh, replies, “My mom thought we might get bored in space. So she sent all the board games she could find with me.”

“I love your mom.”

“You and me both, dude.”

“Wait, what’s a Monopoly?”

“Allura its a real estate game. You buy properties, and whoever has the most money at the end wins.”

“Thank you, Hunk. I vote we play this… Monopoly.”

“I’m in.”

“Oh, you’re on.”

The games were cleared away, stacked up neatly under the table by Hunk and Shay. 

Then there was a fight over the tokens. Both Lance and Keith wanted to be the battleship. In the end, Keith agreed to be the cat. Allura and Romelle decided to play as the racecar. Once the concept of a racecar had been explained to them. Hunk went for the wheelbarrow, and Pidge claimed the top hat within seconds. Which left Coran as the Scottie dog, Shay as the thimble, and Matt as a very begrudging shoe. 

“Seriously, why am I a shoe?? Why am I here, in space, playing monopoly as a shoe, when I could be at home snuggling with Shiro.”

“Because Shiro sent you as his representative! You’re doing something important!! Do you not recognize that??”

“Allura, he was being sarcastic. We can trade though, man, if you want to.”

“It’s alright. Thanks, Hunk.”

Pidge just watched and ate her popcorn. 

The game quickly established itself. Romelle was better at grasping the basics, but Allura was ruthless. So one would figure out the play and the other would kick ass. It was a decent system - until Pidge realized they didn’t understand how Earth money worked. 

Pidge got the two dark blue properties for about 12 dollars each and promptly put three houses on both. Which is when Hunk caught on and explained to the Alteans how the game goes in more detail, apologizing for not catching Pidge earlier. 

Shay, it seemed, didn’t really want to win. She simply had fun collecting money from people. 

The properties went quickly with 7 players and one team, so then the fun part began. 

Trades. 

Pidge, it seems, is a bit of a monopoly gremlin. She quickly proved to be analytical in her approach, though, so no one was really convinced when Pidge tried to get things from them. That led to conversations like this:

“Hey Lance, I’ll give you these two unrelated properties for all three of your railroads. It’ll give me all four railroads, and you’ll get two of a kind on two different colors. But the prices are mostly similar, I think. Actually no.”

“Thanks, Pidge-pie, but I’m not that dumb, even though I’m the dumb one of the group. I’ll keep my railroads.”

“Damnit.”

“Language, Pidgeon.”

The popcorn bowls were emptied and replaced by ice creams and chocolate all around. 

Allura didn’t understand the concept of trading very well, and Romelle was now asleep with her head in Allura’s lap, so the Princess’ properties were quickly picked up by Coran, who understood the game a little too well. 

Coran didn’t put any houses on his properties, though, so his cash supply dried up pretty quickly. 

Especially after he ended up in jail for the 6th time. 

The Alteans said their good nights and quietly disappeared. 

Shay, who had been out for some time, was bringing around another set of snacks - soft pretzels she’d just pulled from the oven - when she walked in on the following conversation. 

“Pidge, if you give me three properties, I’ll give you this one, which will give you a monopoly. And then I’ll have two monopolies, but yours are worth more.”

“Alright.”

As they swapped properties, Lance winked at Keith, who smiled. 

And Hunk leaned back in his chair, laughing at his best friend’s antics. “Sorry, Lancey. I’m keeping my properties.” 

“I figured, Hunker. I’ll let you live for now.”

As Pidge glared across the table, Hunk passed Go and gained another 200 dollars. 

Lance laughs again as her expression turns dangerously angry, happily collecting his $800 in rent from Keith. 

And surprisingly, although he’s getting his ass kicked, Keith laughs too. 

Shay observes all of this as she slides in next to Hunk, the tray of warm pretzels in her hands. As she puts them on the table, Hunk grabs one. 

“Shay these are amazing!” 

She smiles too, still adjusting to this strange little family. As she leans in to accept a short kiss on the cheek from Hunk, she asks, “How long have those two been together?”

And to Shay’s surprise, Hunk chokes on his pretzel. Laughing even harder, he leans in. “They’re not. They used to hate each other.”

“Well, I don’t think they do anymore.” Hunk turns to look where Shay is looking. Keith has scootched across the couch during the game, and he now sits directly next to Lance, legs crossed, a look of pure determination on his face. For Keith, that’s not unusual. 

What’s unusual is the look on Lance’s face as he studies Keith instead of the game in front of him. 

“Lance? You owe me like 300 in rent.”

“Fuck off, top hat.”

But he still smiles as he dramatically counts out the money and hands it to Pidge. Katie. Whatever. Shay is still confused on that one, to be honest. 

At this point, Lance and Pidge are about evenly matched for property, but Lance has a huge stack of cash that Pidge is missing. In fact, when she lands on one of his properties, with a rent of 950 dollars, she hands over two properties instead, scowling, but still giggling. 

“Keith, it’s your turn.” 

He jumps, like he hadn’t been paying attention. Like maybe he had been too busy watching Lance laugh with Pidge. 

Shay leans into her boyfriend again. “Are you sure they’re not together?” Hunk nuzzles into her neck, breathing in the scent of his favorite person (don’t tell Lance, but he’s been replaced). Shay turns to place a small kiss on Hunk’s forehead, and he smiles against her shoulder. He couldn’t be happier. 

***  
Keith is grinning, and Lance can’t stop looking at him. They had started on opposite ends of the couch, but met at some point in the middle. 

“Keith, you want to give me those two properties?” He points down at the small pile in front of Keith, smiling. “Please?”

“I want all three of the pink ones then.”

“Alright, grumpy pants.”

Lance smiles as Keith shoves him gently, passing over the three cards. Keith is good at monopoly. He never loses, in fact. But tonight, he’s enjoying watching his friends, his team, more than he’s enjoying the game. He’s enjoying watching Lance get pulled slowly out of his odd mood. He’s enjoying not having a stupid rivalry between him and the tan boy next to him. 

Keith is enjoying himself. And if letting Lance win means he gets to see him smile with Pidge, well, his dignity can take that blow. 

Lance knows that Keith shouldn’t have taken that deal. It was way too easy. Lance got two monopolies out of it, after all. And isn’t Keith really good at this game? He turns his attention to more pressing matters as a property deal closes between Pidge and Hunk, watching the other boy finally go out. 

“That’s my cue. Good night everyone!”

Hunk gets up slowly, snagging the last of the dishes as he ruffles Pidge’s hair, and exits through the kitchen with Shay, who offers a smile and wave as they leave, hand in hand. 

“God they are the cutest couple. It’s so gross.”

“Pidgeon, get your cryptid ass out of here. Hunk deserves a good relationship.”

Keith looks up at the sudden anger in Lance’s tone, and Pidge, for the first time in anyone’s memory, looks guilty. Absently, he wonders what history he’s missed between these three that would make Lance so suddenly defensive. 

“You’re right. I wasn’t thinking. I’m glad he’s happy.”

When Lance raises a skeptical eyebrow, Pidge raises her hands in the air in defeat. 

“I am!”

“I know. Just… be nice. He’s taking leaving Earth a little hard.”

Pidge tilted her head to one side. “Are you ok Lance?”

It was Keith’s turn for skeptical eyebrows. Pidge wasn’t one to express emotion that much. But right now, she was reaching across the table, staring down Lance. 

“I know how you get when you’re in a bad spell.”

“A bad spell, Pidge?”

“Fine, jackass. I know how you get when your depression kicks in. I figured leaving Earth…. Nevermind.”

“Hey. Pidgeon. I’m ok. Better right now than I’ve been in a while. Thank you.”

She nodded, and as Lance blew a kiss in Pidge’s direction, they both seemed to remember that Keith was still sitting there. 

For a second, they all sat in awkward silence, before Lance recovered. 

“Keith! You think you can get away with not paying me because shit got real for a few minutes? Cough up, Mullet!” And it wasn’t really that funny, but all three of them laughed as they made their way through the game, battling it out for another hour before Keith conceded his small pile to Lance. 

By this point, Lance owned all but five or six properties, and Pidge had been hitting her head on the table for a solid ten minutes. 

“Forfeit, Pidgeon?”

“Fine.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you?”

“I. Give. Up. Lance.”

And although the defeat was still bitter in her face, she laughed as Lance stood up to dance on the table. As the three of them packed away the game, Pidge and Keith shared a look behind Lance’s back. 

They knew he’d been having a shitty few days. And they totally let him win. But they didn’t really mind, because Lance was laughing. 

When Pidge said her good nights, Lance picked her up and spun her around. Even Keith gave her a hug. And for all three of them, for all nine of them, it was one of the best, least stressful nights they’d had in a long time.

As Lance and Keith walked back to their rooms, having dropped Pidge off, Keith slowly started to realize just how much trouble he was in. 

Because Lance was sleepy, and Lance was leaning on his shoulder, and when he went to drop Lance off at his door, the other boy wrapped Keith in a hug. 

Shit. 

“Uhhh… Lance?”

“Shhhh. I’m having a moment.”

“A moment?”

“Yeah. I’m having a good moment.”

“Oh. Ok.”

Lance’s left hand was wrapped around his shoulders, and his right hand was playing with Keith’s now-way-too-long mullet. (So maybe he’d never actually gotten around to cutting it…)

In contrast, Keith’s hands were tucked against Lance’s back. Slowly, he lowered his head against Lance’s shoulder. 

“Deja vu, much?’

“Shhhh, Lance.”

“Did you just shush me?”

“Yes. I’m having a moment.”

“A moment?”

“Yes. A good moment. You’re warm and...shut up. I’m happy, ok?”

“That’s all that matters.”

Keith pulled back a little bit, staring at Lance in confusion. 

“Uh... I mean. I’m just tired ok? I’ll see you later. Tomorrow. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Keith just hummed. “Goodnight, Sharpshooter.”

“Good night, Ninja.”


	6. Shit Gets Real

It took the team three days of travel, post Monopoly game, to reach a point where Allura was comfortable to wormhole from. They traveled in an easy kind of routine, Keith and Lance meeting in the mornings to train for a few hours before waking up the rest of the ship. Even Romelle and Shay had joined in on sparring most days. 

Keith and Lance fell into a pattern of synergy, predicting each other’s needs in training and in Lion drills. They still bickered, but they also would talk serious strategy with Allura and Matt. Lance was present and aware and helpful in all the ways everyone had hoped he would mature to be. 

But he wasn’t quite Lance. There was no innuendo, no joking banter with anyone but Keith. Even that was lesser than usual. He smiled at Pidge, hugged Hunk, spoke seriously and carefully, as the red paladin should. 

They were all aware that, while Lance was growing into what he perceived as his role, he wasn’t Lance anymore. Wasn’t the heart that used to hold them together anymore. If anything, he was becoming more and more like… Keith. So Keith, naturally, decides to take things into his own hands. Because he’s impulsive, and he realizes that what helped Lance last time was spending time with the rest of the team as a family. So he calls Shiro and has him figure out Lance’s favorite foods from Veronica. 

And he makes Hunk organize this big family dinner, with all of them there. 

He gets Pidge to make a video of all of them together. She films it with Rover 2.0 and then compresses it into a file that can be watched in 360 degree VR inside any of the Paladin helmets. 

Shay helps with all of the food, and Matt, who knows better than anyone what Lance went through - the being away from his family, the feeling out of place, the uncertainty and anxiety or everything - has decided to give Lance some surprise upgrades to the Red Lion. Shielding and a few other improvements, mostly. 

Allura, meanwhile, plans out every single detail to the micro-tick, getting everyone ready and prepared, because she’s pretty sure (and she’s right, of course) that Lance’s birthday passed while they were leaving Earth the second time, and she wants this to be his best party ever. 

And when Keith invited Lance to train for part of the day, Lance sees it as he sees most things - a way to occupy time, since he has little better to do on the Castle-ship. 

But to Lance’s surprise, Keith stops their training much much earlier than Lance expects. He’s been pushing himself so far recently that four or five-hour sessions aren’t unusual. Keith ends after just an hour of drills and a few quick sparring matches. 

“Everything ok?”

Lance looks up from his folded hands, sitting in his lap. He had dropped to the floor cross-legged, leaning his upper body against the wall behind him. He didn’t even realize until he looked over that Keith was in nearly the same position, his legs outstretched and crossed at the ankle. 

Keith, taking Lance’s silence as bad, scoots a tiny bit closer. He watches Lance struggle to find an excuse, give up, and then flop over onto his shoulder. 

“Lance, what’s going on with you?”

“I… nothing, Mullet.”

“C’mon. You can talk to me.”

“Did Allura put you up to this? ‘Lance seems upset. Go try to convince him he’s not a failure so we can avenge my dead father.’”

Keith had to admit, Lance’s impression of Allura was scary close. 

“Lance she didn’t say that. I promise. I’m here because I want to be.”

“You do an excellent impression of caring, I’ll give you that.”

Keith could feel his heart breaking, watching this boy he cared about so much put himself down. 

“Lance I’m serious. Please talk to me.”

He let out a long sigh and let his head drape over Keith’s shoulder again. “I miss my family. I’m slowly exiting a nasty depressive episode. I feel like I’m the reason Shiro stayed on Earth. And I’m the only god damn person on this ship who doesn’t have a valid reason to be here.”

Keith didn’t know how to respond. So he just pulled Lance closer and let him curl into his side. He let Lance cry and when his bitter tirade was over, Keith just sighed. He wasn’t good with words. But god damn if he wasn’t going to try to make this better.

“Lance?”

“...yeah?”

“Do you see how close you are to me right now?” 

Lance nodded.

 

“This is me vulnerable. Physically and emotionally.”

Emotionally? Lance turned the word over in his head but stayed silent. 

“Lance, no one else gets this close. Not even Shiro. He knows more about me than most people do but you’re still closer.” 

Keith pulled Lance a fraction of an inch closer, pulling him into the best sitting hug he could manage. “I would trust any member of our team with my life. But I do not trust anyone but you to be this close to me. To see… this much of me.”

That was when Lance realized that Keith was crying just the tiniest bit too. 

“Right after we left Earth, you called me their leader. Their. Because you’d still sacrifice yourself. Because you think you’re replaceable. But you aren’t, Lance. 

I’m their leader. But they are our team. Our. Team. Not my team. You’re as much their leader as I am, even if they don’t realize it yet. I need you. You keep me grounded, keep me centered, keep me from drifting off and doing something irrevocably stupid. You keep the team together, Lance.” A long silence followed Keith’s words, and the Black Paladin could feel his ears turning red in the empty space. 

Eventually, the quiet was broken by a small, hardly audible, “Keith?”

“Mmm?”

“Remember when we got stuck in that weird-ass game show thing?? And I picked you to escape?”

“Of course.”

“I meant what I said. But also… I couldn’t bear the thought of you being trapped for all eternity. You deserve to be free. You deserve a future, outside of a war that isn’t yours. Isn’t… ours. Plus, I don’t think I could look at your mullet for all eternity.” That earned him a small smile, especially because they both were aware of Lance gently playing with a small piece of said offending hair.

“Hey, Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“Did I ever tell you the real reason I wanted you to escape?

“No?”

“Because you deserved to see your family again. But more than that, if anyone is capable of keeping the universe together, and of doing the right thing, its my sharpshooter.” Keith regretted the little word as soon as it left his mouth, but Lance didn’t seem to notice. 

The two sat like that for a long time, Lance curled into Keith’s side, one arm draped over Keith’s chest, with Keith holding him like he would float away without him. 

“DINNER IN 15 MINUTES!”

Hunk’s voice burst through the PA system, making both boys jump, although Lance didn’t really release his hold on Keith. The call, of course, was not only a reminder to keep things moving, but also to Keith, to keep Lance away from the formal dining room. 

“C’mon, Lance. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“You’re stinky, too, Mullet.”

“Yeah yeah. Let’s go. You need a shower as much as I do.”

“Is that an invitation?”

 

Keith turned tomato red but still burst out laughing. “Not at all.”

As they turned into their separate rooms, across the hall from each other, Keith turned back. 

“Hey, Lance?”

He turned at his name, half in and half out of his door. 

Still blushing, just the littlest bit, Keith smirked across the hall. “It’s nice to see you smile.”

And as Lance pulled off his armor and climbed into the shower, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. 

***

On his bed, when he emerged from the bathroom, was an Altean suit. Fancy but still comfortable, gorgeously made and just his size. But the thing that made Lance smile was the colors. Because the jacket of the suit was a deep, oceanic blue, and his shirt was a gentle, warm red. 

Keith found a similar suit on his bed, this one in deep maroon reds and cool midnight blacks - nearly the opposite of Lance’s. He smiled. This was going to be a good night.


	7. For Lance

Lance emerged from his room feeling self conscious in the fancy clothes. There was a note on them telling him specifically to wear them to dinner, but he still felt weird. Like he was exposed, somehow. 

Mind you, he looked good. And he knew it. 

But still. The cut was a little too tailored for his taste. Or maybe he had just grown a bit and not realized it. 

As Lance stepped out of his room, though, every self-conscious thought was knocked out of his head. 

Because Keith was standing across the hallway, his arms folded over his chest, head leaning against the wall. His one foot rested at knee height on the wall behind him, and he looked so. Unbelievably. Hot. 

Shit. 

Lance looked so nervous and self-conscious in his suit. But Keith suddenly couldn’t breathe. 

“You look… good.”

“You too, Mullet.”

They exchanged a smile and pretended to not notice the blush slowly creeping up their cheeks. 

“Shall we?” Keith extended his arm, sarcastically, and to his shock, Lance took it. And they were walking down the hall like that and he was so hyper-aware of every single thing Lance did, because how did he never notice how beautiful Lance can be?

God, he was utterly fucked. 

***  
Lance felt like he was about to spontaneously combust. Keith was right next to him, and he looked like the fucking Adonis in his suit, and Lance suddenly realized that he had been falling for so so so long. And now that he could see it, he couldn’t unsee it. 

And he was absolutely, utterly, fucked. 

They managed to reach the formal dining hall without incident. Somehow, by unconscious consensus, they unlinked arms one hallway away from the doors. 

Keith got the door, stepping aside to let Lance inside. He made it three steps before he turned and saw the room in front of him. 

His jaw dropped as he took in the piles of his favorite foods. Took in Hunk’s grinning face, standing by the table. Hunk was all kinds of decked out in a tannish-yellow suit, and Shay looked like an absolute goddess in a yellow dress. 

Took in Pidge, in a dark green suit, standing by Matt, who was in similar formal wear. 

Took in Allura and Romelle, in pink and pale green gowns, and Coran, in an orangey suit. 

Took in the Earth balloons Allura had produced from god-knows-where, and then tried to form words. 

“What… What’s going on?”

“A little mouse told me that it’s your birthday, Lance.”

“Bird, Allura. The Earthen expression is ‘a little bird told me’.”

“Fine, Coran. A little Hunk-bird told me it’s your birthday.”

“Guilty as charged, buddy.”

Lance looked around once again, and Pidge stepped forward, holding a helmet. “Put this on, Tailor.”

Lance looked at her in confusion, before slipping the helmet over his head. He was too shocked to even complain about what it would do to his hair. 

They could all tell the moment he realized what he was seeing. Pidge gently turned him in a circle, and Lance sunk to his knees. The visor was darkened by the VR, but they could tell he was crying. Hunk, Shay, Allura, and Romelle turned away to give him privacy. Pidge began to talk him through what he was seeing. 

“I had your family send me videos of them talking to you, and then I rendered them in three-dimensions, so you can walk through the crowd and see them from different angles and stuff. There’s also some from us, and a couple short videos of all of us. All in VR, of course. I designed the tech for training exercises but…” She bit her lip, pausing for a second. “But I thought this was a better use for it.”

Lance pulled the helmet off, dropping it next to him. He picked up Pidge and hugged her, still crying softly. 

“Lance, it’s ok buddy.” Hunk had turned back when he heard the helmet drop. 

“Hey, jackass. My jacket is nice, ok? Don’t get tear stains on it.” But Pidge smiled as she hugged him back. “But honestly, Lance. You should be thanking Keith. He organized this.”

“Yeah! He got Shiro to get Veronica to get us your mom’s recipes” 

“And he made me wormhole Coran to Earth for ingredients.”

“And the VR was his idea.”

“And the outfits. Although we already had them, for formal occasions.”

Lance turned to Keith, searching his expression for any sign of sarcasm or joke. Keith just shrugged. 

“Happy birthday, Lance.”

And that’s all it took for Lance to throw himself into Keith’s arms for a hug. And only then, quiet enough that only Lance could hear, Keith added, “You deserve it more than anyone in any universe.”

***  
The food was long gone, and Allura had insisted that they dance, as is Altean birthday custom, apparently, so then that happened. Lance didn’t complain though, as he spun around and around with Pidge and Hunk, with Shay and Allura, even taking a few turns with Coran, which was an experience in and of itself. 

Of course, he danced with Keith too. But he wasn’t going to dwell on that. 

It was only much, much later, when they were all sprawled in chairs, stuffed full of food, still in formal wear, that Lance got the chance to thank Keith. 

And in typical Keith fashion, he brushed it off like it was nothing. 

“But seriously. Thank you.”

“Of course. Just… I left you a video message too. On your helmet. The ones you saw earlier were on mine, and the same ones are stored on yours too but… When you get a chance, watch it.” 

“Alright. Thanks again, Keith.”

That night was the first glimpse either of them got at mutual feelings. The softness in Lance’s face when Keith caught him staring across the room was the only reason Keith told Pidge to upload his message. 

And if Lance made a point of sitting next Keith all night, there definitely wasn’t a reason. 

And if Lance made a point of letting his fingers brush Keith’s under the table, well, that was none of anyone’s business.


	8. Confessions

Lance couldn’t remember when his last birthday party was. Before he left for the Garrison, before he bonded with a magical mechanical cat, before… everything. 

This one was one of the best he could remember. 

After all, none of the others had included Keith. 

Lance sighed, stripping off his suit jacket and shirt. He left the pants for now. They were surprisingly comfy. 

He turned, noticing his helmet on his desk. Which is not where he left it. And he remembered the intensity with which Keith had asked him to watch whatever greeting he had left. 

Lance picked up his helmet, too preoccupied to notice the scrap of paper that fell onto the floor. 

The paper had a doodled heart on it, and next to it was signed, ‘ - Mullet’.

***  
Hey, Lance. 

The shot opened on Keith, wearing his Altean dress clothes. Lance tried to walk around him, like the VR should have let him, but the image stayed where it was, and he just ran into his desk instead. Cursing, he settled down into a chair. 

Happy birthday. I know it’s been a weird few years and maybe a bad few weeks, but if you ever need anything you have us. 

Keith’s expression changed for just a fraction of a second, like he was doubting himself. 

It was an unusual expression on Keith. 

You have me. 

I know I’ve been a jackass in the past but I absolutely meant it when I said I need you.   
Lance, you have no idea what you do. I think I smile more in an hour with you than I did in my whole life before I met you. You are the heart of Voltron but… 

Lance didn’t need to hear the rest. 

The door slid open before he could knock a second time. 

Wordlessly, Keith moved aside to let Lance in. He sat on the bed, and Keith hesitantly sat next to him. Lance slid one hand into Keith’s hair, letting his thumb brush across his cheek. 

“You shivered.” His voice was low. Intense. Like this was the most important thing in the universe. 

“You look unfairly hot shirtless.” Keith turned bright red. He really hadn’t meant to say that out loud. 

Lance laughed, and it was just about the sexiest thing Keith had ever heard. 

“Can I kiss you?”

Keith didn’t bother to answer. He just pulled Lance closer to him. 

Lance kissed him like he was made of glass - like he was the most beautiful and precious thing in the entire universe. Lance kissed him like he wasn’t sure that this was real, and didn’t want to ruin anything. 

“This is real. I promise.”

 

Lance’s quizzical expression was so cute Keith wanted to kiss him again. 

“Did you just read my mind?”

“I told you. No one else gets this close. I think I know you, just a little.”

“No one else?” There was a light back in Lance’s eyes, like a question he’d had his whole life had finally been answered. 

“Never. You know, I was so shocked I actually had feelings for someone, I called Shiro and told him I thought I was dying?”

“You absolute nerd.”

“Shut up.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll kiss you again.”

And he did exactly that. 

***  
In the morning, when the team went to train, two people were notably absent. They were still curled up in Keith’s bed, sound asleep. 

That was another thing that everyone noticed, but was never mentioned.


	9. Coming out to Shiro (Bonus Chapter!)

The phone seemed to ring for hours and Keith waited. 

And waited.

And waited. 

Finally, a familiar shock of white hair appeared on the screen. 

“Hey, Shiro.”

“Sorry that took me so long. I was in a meeting.”

“Oh, I can go if…”

Shiro gave him a look that could have wilted flowers. “I ended the meeting.”

Lance laughed in the background at the look of shock on Keith’s face. 

“Oh my god. Oh my god.”

“Shiro?”

“HI LANCE!!!”

 

“Hi??”

 

“YOU FINALLY DID IT KEITH I’M SO PROUD!!”

“Uh…”

The noise that came out of that grown man’s mouth was more akin to that of a ten-year-old fangirl, but to be fair, his OTP had just sailed. 

“It’s about damn time, fuckers. Ooooh, Matt owes me ten dollars.”

“Shiro!!”

“Language!!”

“You bet on us??”

“Of course I did. Does Allura know??”

“Uh…”

“Work in progress??”

“So.... y’all came out to me first?”

“Yeah? I guess? It’s what Keith wanted. AND RARE SOUTHERN SHIRO!!”

Keith took the initiative to flick his boyfriend on the forehead. 

“...ow.”

Keith took the initiative to kiss it better. 

Shiro squealed again. “Allura owes me so much money.”

***  
The three of them talked for a long time, and when Keith fell asleep in Lance’s lap, Shiro stayed and talked to Lance. They talked about Voltron and the Coalition but also about Keith and how oh my god yeah he still does that thing!!!

And by the time they said their goodbyes and Lance hung up the call, Shiro had threatened him within an inch of death (You’re that boy’s first real crush and if you break his heart in space of all fucking places, I will end you), and also apologized (You’re the best Red Paladin Keith could have ever asked for and I’m so glad you’re there to keep each other safe. And I’m sorry, for everything that happened. I know I never said it, but I am. I failed you, and I failed Keith, and I failed the team. But I am truly sorry for anything I said to you while you were under the impression I was my witch-grown clone.)

And when they said goodbye, it was with smiles.

Because yeah, Lance has his issues. And yeah, they are still at war. But right now, he gets to braid his sleepy boyfriend’s hair. And right now, he gets to snuggle with a tired, clingy Keith. 

So right now, everything is perfect.


	10. Epilogue

~ Two years later ~

There’s an old story that Lance thinks about a lot. Right now, he’s thinking about it while drinking something with way too much sugar in it, sitting on a beach. 

There’s an old story that claims that, in the beginning of the world, every person was born with four arms, four legs, and two head. These people were so powerful, however, that the gods split them apart into two people each.

Two people, with two arms, two legs, and one head. But each of these people only had half a heart and half a soul, so they were doomed to spend the rest of their life looking for their other half. 

Their soulmate. 

When he was little, Lance wondered if his soulmate would be pretty. 

In high school, he grew to resent that old story his mother had told him, because where was he left in that story, where each pair was one female to one male? Where was he left when he liked boys more than he liked girls? 

At the Garrison, he ignored that story, flirting with anything that moved, even then knowing his short-lived relationships weren’t meant to last. 

Now, lying on a beach, his family surrounding him, shouting and laughing, Lance knew. 

The story left him exactly where he should be. Sitting next to his extremely pretty, extremely male, soulmate. 

From the water, a familiar voice screeched. 

Hunk had pitched Pidge into the ocean. And her phone had been in her cargo-short pocket. 

Hunk, essentially, was doomed. 

Shiro was tanning next to Matt, who had his head buried in a book. 

Allura was deep in a conversation with two of her psychic mice and a very confused seagull. 

Coran was sound asleep. 

And Keith was exactly where he should be. Right next to Lance. 

~Another year later~

Keith woke up first today. 

As he stretched, he thought about an old story Lance’s mother had once told him. She had said that every person had a perfect other half of their heart and soul. 

And she had told him that, by the way Lance looked at him, she hoped it was him. 

He had assured her that he was, and that he wanted more than anything to be, Lance’s soulmate. 

And she had hugged him until his arm went numb. 

He smiled down at the figure still sound asleep next to him, curled into his side like a baby koala. Sighing, Keith settled his head down against Lance’s chest. 

Judging by the way they fit together - so perfectly it was as though they had been cut from the same piece of fabric, two side by side patchworks, just waiting to be stitched back together - it seemed that Mama McClain’s theory wasn’t that far off. 

But Keith still didn’t understand how he had gotten lucky enough to have this angel as his - his soul mate and the other half of his heart. 

And suddenly, he knew. He knew that this was the best moment he would ever get, with the golden light streaming in through their window, curled up together under a comforter. A patchwork comforter. Keith smiled again. 

He did that a lot, now. 

Keith smiled as he reached for the tiny box he had hidden in a bedside drawer. 

He curled back into Lance, box in hand, a pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot just below his ear. 

Then another, and another. 

“Lance, my love. Wake up.”

“Mmmm”

“Please Lance?”

“Hi.”

Keith just kissed him again, lightly, on the very tip of his nose. 

“You’re so pretty.”

“And you’re gorgeous, starboy.”

Lance hummed happily, still sleepy. 

“Lance? Can I ask you a question?”

“Yes, I would like coffee.”

“Open your eyes, my love. For me.”

Lance let his eyes drift open, and as he stretched himself awake, Keith sat up.

He didn’t kneel. He just sat cross-legged on their bed. 

He waited for Lance to wake up, and then opened the box. 

The tiny, hopeful smile on his face made Lance melt in a million different ways. 

“I love you.”

That was all he said. But it was all he needed to say, because Lance kissed him, and then kissed him again. 

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”

Keith’s smile was contagious, and as he slid the ring onto Lance’s finger, his now-fiancé laughed. 

“What is it?”

Lance just laughed again, and leaned over his side of the bed. From out of a seemingly-discarded bag, he pulled a tiny velvet box. 

And he swung himself up onto the bed again, kneeling in front of Keith. “I love you more.”

Keith laughed now too, a beautiful, radiant sound that Lance would never stop loving. 

And he said, as he slid on the ring, “I love you most.”

And really, Lance couldn’t argue with that. So he just kissed him. 

That night, their entire family, both alien and Earthen, both blood and found, came over for dinner. 

The dinner Lance had planned to propose at.

But he didn’t really mind being beaten by Keith this one time. 

After all, he now had an even better announcement. 

And at that moment, it was clear that they were, as Mama McClain had predicted, 

Soulmates. 

 

~And together, they lived happily ever after.~

~The End~


End file.
